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LXVI.— ON THE COLOUEING MATTEES EMPLOYED IN THE 

 ILLUMINATIONS OF THE " BOOK OF KELLS." By 

 W. N. HAETLEY, P.E. S., Eoyal College of Science, 

 Dublin. 



[Read, June 15, 1885.] 



No one who has visited the Library of Trinity College, and had the 

 privilege of examining the "Book of Kells " can fail to have been im- 

 pressed with the beauty, quaintness, and intricacy of the designs, 

 and the brilliancy of the colours of the illuminated letters and 

 embellishments. Owing to the unsatisfactory character of some 

 of our modern water-colours and oil paints, I have been asked to 

 give an opinion upon the nature of the colours which have re- 

 mained permanent after a period of possibly 1200 years. For 

 obvious reasons the pigments in question could not be submitted 

 to any process of chemical manipulation; hence conjecture, judg- 

 ment, and comparison were exercised in deciding upon an answer. 

 As any information concerning this interesting and beautiful relic 

 of ancient Irish art may possibly be acceptable to the Eoyal Dublin 

 Society, I beg that this may be accepted as an apology for present- 

 ing so unimportant a scientific contribution. It is my desire to 

 state at the outset that this question was put to me by Mrs. D'Olier, 

 whose very beautiful reproductions of the designs in the " Book of 

 Kells " have been executed with such loving care as to excite the 

 admiration of all who carefully examine them. Mrs. D'Olier has 

 rendered me a very remarkable amount of assistance in some cases 

 by giving me a true description of the pigments, and to her my 

 best thanks are due. Accepting the earliest supposed date of the 

 manuscript as being of the seventh century, it is necessary to restrict 

 our ideas of the colours that could be used to those known at, or 

 prior to, this time. A very careful examination of the work shows 

 that the pigments mixed with gum, glue, or gelatine are laid on 

 somewhat thickly — there is no staining of the vellum and no 

 mingling of tints. There is, however, as was pointed out to me 

 a painting of blue over a ground of green. The colours, which 

 are not very numerous, ooiT'i'^t of a black, a tint resembling burnt 



